How can you recommend that Fentanyl patches be flushed down the toilet?

Sewage water is routinely recycled into drinking water for human consumption. Most public filtration systems do not filter out these meds, and as tests already show, much of this water is tainted with a variety of medications from people doing what you suggest! Much better to put medications to be disposed of in a plastic bag, zip it shut, and place in garbage. (Don't bury them in your own yard either without bagging them!)

Responses (2)

Do not do what you suggest, you'll have people in your trash looking for them. If a child got them a small portion could still have enough for them to od also. www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm300747.htm The FDA recommends that the adhesive part of the patch is folded together and flushed down the toilet. That's why we recommend that here. Here is the FDA site on it.

I know, it is not so bad with the smaller 25mg patches but the 100's are pretty big. The only other option is to put them in a child proof container and turn them in on a Drug Take Back Day or ask your pharmacy if they have a disposal program. You can also check with police and fire depts to see if there is any drug disposal drop off sites in your community. From the DEA website on drug disposal:Disposal instructions on the label are part of FDA’s “risk mitigation” strategy, says Capt. Jim Hunter, R.Ph., M.P.H., senior program manager on FDA’s Controlled Substance Staff. When a drug contains instructions to flush it down the toilet, he says, it’s because FDA, working with the manufacturer, has determined this method to be the most appropriate route of disposal that presents the least risk to safety.Drugs such as powerful narcotic

pain relievers and other controlled substances carry instructions for flushing to reduce the danger of unintentional use or overdose and illegal abuse.For example, the fentanyl patch, an adhesive patch that delivers a potent pain medicine through the skin, comes with instructions to flush used or leftover patches. Too much fentanyl can cause severe breathing problems and lead to death in babies, children, pets, and even adults, especially those who have not been prescribed the drug. “Even after a patch is used, a lot of the drug remains in the patch,” says Hunter, “so you wouldn’t want to throw something in the trash that contains a powerful and potentially dangerous narcotic that could harm others.

For most drugs, it is not recommended that you flush for the reason you suggest BUT fentanyl patches contain SO much powerful medication, even after they are worn, that any contact with them by a child, animal or opioid naive person can result in death. In this one case, it is safer to flush them than to put them in the trash where they can be found by pets, children and opioid naive people. So your way is NOT better. It is safer to fold them in sticky side to sticky side and flush them.

What about a hazardous waste container? Of course then you'd be paying to get rid of it. Lord, my mind just went off, we have a bear comes down and gets into our trash, I had a vision of a high bear, lolol